TaroWorks Offers $20,000 Grant to Help Last Mile Distributors Scale with Mobile Tech

WASHINGTON, June 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- TaroWorks, the offline mobile field service app, is awarding a $20,000 grant to subsidize the digitization of a nonprofit's last mile distribution operations in vulnerable communities. The grant will be funded by Qualcomm Incorporated, through its Qualcomm® Wireless Reach™ initiative.

TaroWorks provides a mobile app that helps last mile distributors manage and gain greater visibility into sales, inventory, and product maintenance while offline in places like rural India, Kenya, and Cambodia. The grant will be awarded to a qualified NGO, humanitarian or social service organization or nonprofit towards the cost of configuring and deploying TaroWorks' new inventory management system - TaroWorks Enterprise. TaroWorks is accepting applications for the grant until July 8, 2022. TaroWorks will run two rounds of the grant in 2022, with the first round focusing on nonprofits. The second, focusing on social enterprises will open later this year.

"We have heard from many organizations that they lack the financial support needed to implement digital solutions to serve the last mile," said TaroWorks CEO Brent Chism. "Wireless Reach™ is covering the costs of designing and implementing TaroWorks tools for two organizations. This will allow us to learn from last mile distribution managers about what their industry needs to better serve base-of-pyramid communities."

"Qualcomm is excited to continue our long partnership with TaroWorks, and to help drive the impact of nonprofits making a difference by distributing life-changing goods and services to millions of people at the last mile," said Angela Baker, Chief Sustainability Officer and Senior Director, Government Affairs at Qualcomm Incorporated. 

Wireless Reach has been a proud supporter of TaroWorks since 2014, enabling its growth from a program incubated within the Grameen Foundation to a thriving social enterprise focused on last mile software and services for trusted partners in the global development community.

"Distributors who are serving these 'last mile' populations…play a crucial role in sustainable development by driving demand for beneficial products and delivering them to hard-to-reach consumers," wrote leaders of the Global Distributors Collective (GDC), a worldwide coalition of last mile distributors who reach more than 33 million people in last mile households with solar lights, clean cookstoves, and water filters. "While the importance of last mile distribution is increasingly recognized, funding is still not flowing into this space," they added. (Impact Alpha, May 27, 2021)

Last mile delivery is considered "the most inefficient process of the entire supply chain" according to a majority of transportation and logistics companies surveyed in a Soti Inc. 2020 study of the U.S. and Canadian industry sectors. The same group agrees it is critical for companies to "ensure a mobile-first strategy around last mile delivery" by using smartphones, tablets, and task-specific apps to improve operations. 

TaroWorks Enterprise helps organizations gain transparency in their last mile operations around procuring, transferring, warehousing, and distributing goods. The offline mobile field service app also enables organizations to collect data, analyze metrics, monitor performance and manage field teams from mobile devices when working in remote areas with little internet or phone service. 

TaroWorks will evaluate applications based on business need, the potential for long-term success with the system, estimated long-term impact, and financial need. For more information and to apply for the grant funding, visit the TaroWorks Enterprise Grant page.

TaroWorks is a SaaS product integrated with the Salesforce.com CRM platform, so grant applicants must be current or planned Salesforce users to be eligible for consideration. The grant awardee will be responsible for the cost of Salesforce and TaroWorks user licenses but nonprofits may be eligible for 10 free Salesforce licenses and other Salesforce discounts.

For press inquiries, please contact Riley Harding at riley@taroworks.org.

TaroWorks LLC is a social enterprise that sells an offline mobile field services management platform to help organizations operating at the last mile enhance inventory management, monitoring and evaluation, sales, case management and agent network performance in the field. Its mission is to improve product and service delivery to the poor by bringing real-time data across the last mile to use for business decision-making. TaroWorks is a subsidiary of Grameen Foundation.

Qualcomm is the world's leading wireless technology innovator and the driving force behind the development, launch, and expansion of 5G.  When we connected the phone to the internet, the mobile revolution was born. Today, our foundational technologies enable the mobile ecosystem and are found in every 3G, 4G and 5G smartphone. We bring the benefits of mobile to new industries, including automotive, the internet of things, and computing, and are leading the way to a world where everything and everyone can communicate and interact seamlessly.

Qualcomm Incorporated includes our licensing business, QTL, and the vast majority of our patent portfolio. Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, operates, along with its subsidiaries, substantially all of our engineering, research and development functions, and substantially all of our products and services businesses, including our QCT semiconductor business.

Qualcomm® Wireless Reach™
Wireless Reach invests in sustainable programs that demonstrate innovative uses of wireless technology to strengthen economic and social development globally. Our programs foster entrepreneurship, aid in public safety, enhance the delivery of health care, enrich teaching and learning, and improve environmental sustainability. Since 2006,

Wireless Reach has benefitted more than 24 million people.

Qualcomm and Wireless Reach are trademarks or registered trademarks of Qualcomm Incorporated.

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